Attorney General

Attorney General: Ivory

Luke Pollard: To ask the Attorney General, what estimate she has made of the number of ivory items owned by or collated by her office.

Alex Chalk: The Attorney General’s Office has not made any estimates of the number of ivory items owned or collated by the Department.

Department of Health and Social Care

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Exercise

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to put in place a new reporting system to enable myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome patients to report harms resulting from graded exercise therapy following the publication of the updated NICE guidelines on myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Edward Argar: There are no plans to put in place a new reporting system to enable myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patients to report harms resulting from graded exercise therapy. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s updated guideline does not recommend the use of graded exercise therapy in the management of ME/CFS and clinicians are expected to take this recommendation fully into account in the care and treatment of individual patients.All patients have the right to make a complaint about any aspect of National Health Service care, treatment or service, and this is firmly written into the NHS Constitution. Most hospitals have a Patient Advice and Liaison Service which can be contacted if there is a problem with the treatment or care received while in hospital.

Human Papillomavirus: Vaccination

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department made of the implications for its policies of the study published by Cancer Research UK into the effects of the national Human Papillomavirus immunisation programme in England, published on 3 November 2021.

Maria Caulfield: We welcome the findings of this study, which show the importance of the Human Papillomavirus vaccine in saving lives from cervical cancer. We encourage all teenage girls to have the vaccine when offered it. The vaccine programme, together with cervical screening, have the potential to reduce cervical cancer to the point where almost no women develop it. Fewer cervical cancers will significantly affect the current screening programme, and work is ongoing to see what changes might be needed in the future.

Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Health Services

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) increase the diagnosis rates of women suffering from endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome and (b) provide support for women living with those respective conditions.

Maria Caulfield: Important research exploring what happens in primary care when women present with endometriosis-like symptoms was completed, hosted by the National Institute of Health Research. The results, published earlier this year, help us understand delays in diagnosis and will inform our ongoing work on the Women’s Health Strategy.A Call for Evidence was launched to inform the priorities, content and actions of England’s first Women’s Health Strategy, and included questions on gynaecological conditions including endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome.Following analysis of the Call for Evidence responses, we will detail our commitments with regards to endometriosis and PCOS within the strategy.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Exercise

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the benefits and dis-benefits of graded exercise therapy for myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome patients.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to ensure that medical practitioners cease to recommend graded exercise therapy to myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome patients following the publication of the updated NICE guidelines on myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Edward Argar: The Department has made no assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based guidance for the health and care system. NICE published its updated guideline on the diagnosis and management of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) on 29 October. The updated guideline does not recommend the use of graded exercise therapy in the management of ME/CFS. NICE’s full guidance is available at the following link: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng206 NICE’s guideline describe best practice and should be taken fully into account in the care and treatment of individual patients. However, it is not mandatory and do not override a medical practitioner’s clinical judgement.

Pain: Health Services

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve NHS (a) treatment and (b) support for those suffering from chronic long-term pain conditions.

Gillian Keegan: NHS England and NHS Improvement have established a task and finish group to produce guidance on the provision of high-quality services for people living with long-term pain conditions by April 2022. The guidance is aimed at integrated care systems to provide core principles which can be used to inform the development of local models of care to support people living with chronic pain. NHS England and NHS Improvement will appoint a National Clinical Director for Prescribing in November 2021. The National Clinical Director will be responsible for promoting safe use of medicines, such as opioids for patients suffering from chronic pain conditions, as recommended in the 2021 National Overprescribing Review.

Health Services: Missing Persons

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what requirements his Department places on hospitals and healthcare settings in respect of (a) preventing and (b) responding to missing persons episodes.

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for its policies of the report by Missing People entitled, The multi-agency response for adults missing from health and care settings: A national framework for England, published in October 2020.

Gillian Keegan: Providers registered under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 must notify the Care Quality Commission (CQC) about unauthorised absences of people detained or liable to be detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 (the Act). In addition, the Mental Health Act Code of Practice requires all hospital managers to ensure that there is a clear written policy about the action to be taken when a detained patient, or a patient on a Community Treatment Order, goes missing. All relevant staff should be familiar with this policy and hospital managers should agree their policy with other agencies – such as the police and ambulance services – as necessary. The Code of Practice also requires that the police are informed immediately if a patient is missing who is considered to be particularly vulnerable, dangerous, and/or is subject to restrictions under Part III of the Act. With the exception of NHS trusts, providers registered with CQC also need to inform it about police involvement. However, all providers are responsible for providing CQC with information about safeguarding incidents through its statutory notifications which could include risks to people who go missing from a service. No formal assessment has been made of the implications of the report by Missing People.

Mental Health Services: Hospital Beds

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the in-patient bed occupancy level is for each NHS Mental Healthcare Trusts in England in the latest period for which figures are available.

Gillian Keegan: A table showing the information requested is attached.DATA TABLE  (xlsx, 24.7KB)

Offenders: Hyperactivity

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the review of Neurodiversity in the Criminal Justice Sector published in July 2021, what steps his Department is taking to provide comprehensive treatment plans for the management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among people in the criminal justice system.

Gillian Keegan: NHS England NHS Improvement has commissioned the Centre for Mental Health to conduct a mental health needs analysis in all English prisons. This is expected to provide a greater understanding of the mental health and neurodiverse needs of people in prison, including those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. NHS England and NHS Improvement is also working with Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service in the identification and roll out of a common screening tool, which will assist in identifying people with neurodiverse needs. Many of these will benefit from non-medical adjustments, while, for some, a diagnostic and treatment pathway will be indicated. A scoping exercise to understand current treatment pathways is planned as part of the review and refresh of the prison mental health service specification, which will be evidence-based, informed by current best practice and reflect developments in the wider health system.

Health Services: Prisoners

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled Injustice? Towards a better understanding of health care access challenges for prisoners, published by Nuffield Trust on 21 October 2021, what steps he is taking to improve the collection of ethnicity data for prisoners using healthcare services in England.

Gillian Keegan: The NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI) prison health data system ‘SystmOne’ already collects and holds ethnicity data for prisoners. NHSEI regularly review the data fields to ensure they are accurate and appropriate and provide quality audits and reports for internal use by commissioners.From 2022 clinical records will work across a General Practitioner (GP) to GP system which will support a swift reconciliation of client data including ethnicity, as people transfer from community services into custodial settings and from custody back into the community.

Community Care

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to provide high quality care within communities for vulnerable people.

Gillian Keegan: Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan the care and support needs of their local populations and must ensure a diverse range of quality, sustainable care and support services are provided. Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) commission high quality community health services to meet health needs of people living at home, helping recovery or maximising health and wellbeing for people with disability or long-term conditions, including nursing care. CCGs must also commission specialist health services for people with learning disabilities and mental health conditions. All service must be delivered to address health inequalities and provide access for marginalised and vulnerable groups.

Eating Disorders: Mental Health Services

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children and young people and adults were referred to specialist secondary mental health services with a primary reason of referral of eating disorders in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22 to date; and what proportion of those referrals were made to an eating disorder service.

Gillian Keegan: Information is not held on the number of children and young people and adults referred to specialist secondary mental health services with a primary reason of referral of eating disorders. However, the number of referrals of children and young people, and adults referred to specialist secondary mental health services with a primary reason of referral for eating disorders is shown in the table below.Not all referrals of children and young people, and adults to specialist secondary mental health services with a primary reason of referral for eating disorders are recorded as being made to eating disorder services. Some of these referrals are recorded as being made to other service team types, such as community mental health teams, psychiatric liaison services and single point of access services. Number of referrals of children and young people, and adults to specialist secondary mental health services with a primary reason of referral for eating disorders1Referrals with a primary reason of referral for eating disorders referred to eating disorder services2,3Proportion of referrals with a primary reason of referral for eating disorders referred to eating disorder services (%)Children and young people (aged 0 to 18) 2019/2014,4559,514662020/2122,44915,624702021/22 (to July 2021)10,8807,72671Adults (over 18) 2019/2020,49015,576762020/2124,93419,488782021/22 (to July 2021)11,6219,22579Source: Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS), NHS Digital1 Some people may have been referred more than once during a particular time period2 Includes eating disorders/dietetics services, community eating disorder services for children and young people and community eating disorder services3 Some referrals may have been referred to multiple service team types

Mental Health Services: Ethnic Groups

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what targeted mental health support his Department provides for the Eritrean community in the UK.

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mental health support is available for people experiencing trauma who have emigrated to the UK from Eritrea.

Gillian Keegan: Whilst there is no targeted support nationally for any one nationality, such as Eritreans, or ethnic groups, the Government is committed to ensuring mental health support, including support for people experiencing trauma, can be accessed by all who need it. We are working closely with National Health Service (NHS) mental health commissioners, providers, and local authorities to improve the ways in which such patients engage with and experience support for their mental health.The Department is committed through the NHS Long Term Plan to invest at least an additional £2.3 billion of a year into expanding and transforming mental health services by 2023-24. The Plan also outlines ways to address inequalities in access and outcomes for groups with protected characteristics including ethnicity as outlined in the Advancing mental Health strategy published by NHS England and NHS Improvement, and is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/advancing-mental-health-equalities-strategy/.

Children: Disability

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the finding of the Disabled Children’s Partnership report, Then There Was Silence, published 10 September 2021, that urgent referrals for children’s mental health services, such as serious self-harm or suicide attempts, increased by 60 per cent in the covid-19 pandemic, what fiscal steps he plans to take to ensure that the mental health of disabled children is supported.

Gillian Keegan: While we have made no specific financial provision for this group of patients, on 5 March we announced an additional £79 million funding that will be used to significantly expand children’s mental health services in this financial year. This will allow around 22,500 more children and young people, including those with disabilities, to access community health services and 2,000 more to access eating disorder services. It will also allow a faster increase in the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges.We also remain committed to the ambitions of the NHS Long Term Plan to invest at least an additional £2.3 billion a year into mental health services by 2023/24. This will enable an extra two million people in England, including 345,000 more children and young people, to access National Health Service-funded mental health support.

Social Services: North East

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,  what steps his Department is taking to increase the provision of social care in the North East of England.

Gillian Keegan: Local authorities, including those in the North East, are responsible for assessing individual’s eligibility for care and support as set out in the Care Act 2014 and where eligible, meeting those needs. Local authorities are also responsible for commissioning adult social care in their area and ensuring that services meet the needs of their local population.

Telemedicine: Prisoners

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled Injustice? Towards a better understanding of health care access challenges for prisoners, published by Nuffield Trust on 21 October 2021, what steps he is taking to increase access to outpatient services via remote consultations in prisons in England; and what assessment he has made of the barriers to increased use of remote consultations in prisons in England.

Gillian Keegan: To increase access to outpatient services, all secure and detained sites in England have now received the equipment to facilitate Telemedicine appointments within their establishment. Regions are working to establish connections with their tertiary and secondary health care partners to reduce the need to move a patient to sites external to the prison for a healthcare appointment.No formal assessment has been made of the barriers to increased use of remote consultations in prisons in England. However, South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw region is running a pilot connecting five prisons to one hospital trust for telemedicine appointments and has successfully implemented a clinical assessment and treatment service clinic using the telemedicine solution. Learning from this pilot is being rolled out across the English regions and other regions are now setting up similar services.NHS England and NHS Improvement continues to work with other providers of services such as mental health organisations, probation services, voluntary community and social enterprise organisations, and liaison and diversion services to promote the use of telemedicine across the estate.

Social Services: Fees and Charges

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Adult Social Care Charging Policy guidance issued by his Department to local authorities includes details on how universal credit should be assessed when setting the level of the minimum income guarantee.

Gillian Keegan: Local authorities must follow the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 and have regard to the Care and Support Statutory Guidance when undertaking financial assessments to determine what someone should pay towards care costs. The guidance states that income from Universal Credit is considered as part of that financial assessment which will determine how much a person can contribute towards their care. They must be left with a weekly minimum income guarantee amount in line with what is detailed in the regulations.To allow people receiving means-tested support to keep more of their own income, the Government will unfreeze the Minimum Income Guarantee for those receiving care in their own homes and Personal Expenses Allowance for care home residents, so that from April 2022 they will both rise in line with inflation.

Mental Health Services: Finance

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to provide additional funding to mental health services in (a) London and (b) England for the purposes of tackling the backlog in treatment following the covid-19 outbreak.

Gillian Keegan: As part of the Government’s commitment to build back better, we published in March our Mental Health Recovery Action Plan. The Plan is backed by an additional £500 million for this financial year, to address waiting times for mental health services, and to give more people the mental health support they need.The majority of the funding has been allocated to systems in line with fair-shared weighted population splits, including London. More information about fair-share allocation funding in the NHS can be found at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/nhs-allocations-infographics-feb-2020.pdf

Children: Disability

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Disabled Children’s Partnership report, Then There Was Silence, published 10 September 2021, what fiscal steps he is taking to tackle the backlog in disabled children’s health and care assessments.

Gillian Keegan: On 6 September 2021 we announced an additional £5.4 billion to support the COVID-19 response over the next six months, bringing the total Government support for health services in response to over £34 billion in 2021/22. This includes £2 billion to tackle the elective backlog to reduce waiting times for patients, including disabled children.This year councils have access to £51.3 billion to deliver their core services, including a £1.7 billion grant for social care. The Government has given over £6 billion in un-ringfenced funding directly to councils to support the immediate and longer-term impacts of COVID-19 spending pressures, including for children’s services.

Kidney Diseases: Dialysis Machines

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many kidney dialysis patients have acquired hospital-borne infections in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Argar: The UK Health Security Agency carries out mandatory enhanced surveillance of infections in adult haemodialysis patients for National Health Service acute Trusts in England, including for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia; Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) bacteraemia; Clostridium difficile; and Escherichia coli bacteraemia.This data is published by the UK Renal Registry in their annual report. The most recent annual report to include this data was published in July 2021, covering data to the end of 2019 and is available at the following link: https://ukkidney.org/sites/renal.org/files/publication/file-attachments/23rd_UKRR_ANNUAL_REPORT_0.pdf.

Urinary Tract Infections

Kevin Hollinrake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data on urinary tract infection instance in clinical settings is being centrally collated by (a) NHS England, (b) his Department and (c) the UK Health Security Agency, given that this data is now primarily gathered at a local level.

Kevin Hollinrake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how data on urinary tract infection instance in clinical settings is being collated at a national level, following the suspension of the National Safety Thermometer and the move to data collection at Trust level.

Edward Argar: NHS England requires English hospital providers through the National Health Service Standard Contract to submit data detailing hospital activity relating to NHS-provided or NHS funded care. This data is collated and published by NHS Digital. It includes hospital admissions where the patient was diagnosed with urinary tract infection. This can be found in the annual Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Admitted Patient Care (APC) dataset at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/hospital-admitted-patient-care-activitySeparately, the United Kingdom Health Security Agency undertakes surveillance of bloodstream infections in hospital and community settings, including information on the infection source through NHS acute trusts reporting infection cases.NHS safety thermometer data collection was stopped in March 2020 due to emerging evidence that the data collected was incomplete and not being used as intended to support safety improvement and in part to support the COVID-19 response by freeing up nursing time.

Internet: Harassment

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle mental health problems caused by online abuse.

Gillian Keegan: We are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand and transform mental health services, including support for those experiencing mental health problems caused by online abuse.The Department is also working with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Home Office on the draft Online Safety Bill. The draft Bill sets out new duties on companies to keep their users safe online, including from online abuse.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the date on which the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation will publish advice on whether to extend the covid-19 booster vaccination programme beyond the groups that are eligible as of 2 November 2021.

Maggie Throup: We have made no such estimate. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) continues to review data as it emerges. The JCVI will consider further advice on booster vaccinations beyond the groups that are eligible as of 2 November 2021 and updated advice will be published in due course.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Nigeria: Politics and Government

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the security situation in South East Nigeria.

Vicky Ford: The Government is concerned by increasing insecurity in Nigeria, including in the South East, where there has been a rise in violence. British High Commission officials have made regular visits to the region to engage with state governors, local community leaders and civil society.We regularly raise insecurity in Nigeria with the Nigerian Government. On 1 November I raised the issue of insecurity with Nigeria's Foreign Minister in the margins of the COP26 summit in Glasgow. The Prime Minister also discussed this with President Buhari in the margins of the Global Education Summit in July. We will continue to urge and support the Nigerian Government to take urgent action to implement long-term solutions that address the root causes of violence.

Afghanistan: Repatriation

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether any further flights are planned to repatriate UK nationals from Afghanistan.

James Cleverly: We have assisted over 700 British nationals and their dependents back to the UK since the end of the evacuation. We continue to work with international partners to expand the options available for British nationals to return to UK from Afghanistan.

Environment Protection: International Cooperation

Stuart Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to encourage international collaboration on nature recovery programmes.

Vicky Ford: Protecting and restoring nature is a core theme of the UK's COP26 presidency. At the World Leaders Summit, leaders agreed to work together to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 through the Glasgow Leaders Declaration, which has now been signed by more than 130 countries, covering over 90% of global forest cover. During the COP fortnight, we will also be highlighting the Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade Dialogue to promote sustainable development and trade while protecting forests and other critical ecosystems; the Sustainable Agriculture campaign; and the 'Call for Ocean Action' towards ocean health and resilience.These initiatives are part of the Government's wider efforts to put biodiversity on a path to recovery. Last year, we championed the Leaders Pledge for Nature, which aims to galvanise more political commitment and which 93 countries have signed to date. The UK has signed up to the goal to conserve or protect at least 30 per cent of the world's land and at least 30 per cent of the world's ocean by 2030, and to support our ambitions for nature, the Government has committed to invest at least £3 billion of our ODA budget over the period 21/22-25/26.

Tigray: Overseas Aid

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that the UK’s aid response to the crisis in Tigray is helping vulnerable groups including minority religious or belief communities.

Vicky Ford: On 16 October, I announced an additional £29 million of humanitarian aid to people affected by the catastrophic conflict in northern Ethiopia. This increases the UK's commitment to the crisis to more than £76 million making the UK the second largest donor. Our priority is supporting Ethiopians in need including vulnerable groups from minority religious or belief communities. Humanitarian operations in Tigray have come to a standstill owing to the de facto blockade imposed by the Ethiopian Government since late June. Prior to the blockade, UK funded partners were working in the most challenging circumstances to provide life-saving assistance to displaced persons, refugees and others. I have called on all parties in Ethiopia to urgently agree a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid through and for the Ethiopian Government to lift the blockade of humanitarian relief into the Tigray region. I reiterated this in my tweet on 3 November and at a Westminster Hall Debate on the same day. We continue to push both sides of the conflict to prioritise the wellbeing of people in need in northern Ethiopia and allow the flow of badly needed humanitarian assistance.

Employment: Human Rights

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Written Statement of 23 February 2021, State Immunity Act 1978: Remedial Order, HCWS788, when she plans to lay before Parliament a draft remedial order in response to the Supreme Court judgement in the case of Benkharbouche v Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs [2017] UKSC 62.

Amanda Milling: The FCDO has been extensively engaged in preparing to respond to the Supreme Court's ruling. Work is not yet complete, but we plan to lay a draft remedial order before Parliament as early as possible in 2022.

Ministry of Justice

Prisons: Drugs

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of drugs smuggling into prisons were detected in England in each of the last 12 months.

Victoria Atkins: We are spending £100 million to bolster prison security and clamp down on the weapons, drugs and mobile phones that fuel violence and crime behind bars. This money fund measures including airport-style security, x-ray body scanners and phone-blocking technology. To date, x-ray body scanners have stopped over 10,000 attempts by prisoners to smuggle contraband into prisons and HMPPS currently has over 500 drug detection dogs working across the estate.In the 12-months ending March 2021, there were 20,295 finds of drugs in prisons; a decrease of 6% from the 21,575 in the 12-months to March 2020. These figures are available in the HMPPS Annual Digest.

Legal Aid Scheme: Reviews

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid will publish its recommendations.

James Cartlidge: The Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review follows on from the introduction of new measures deemed critical in advance of the Independent Review starting. These 'accelerated measures' injected up to £51m per annum into the criminal legal aid system in September 2020. Sir Christopher Bellamy QC is leading the review, which I understand he is close to completing. I can confirm the Government aims to publish Sir Christopher's report together with its response as soon as possible.

Prime Minister

Richard Desmond

Mark Tami: To ask the Prime Minister, what meetings he has had with the Chairman of Northern and Shell on the (a) review of the Culligan Act 2005 and (b) fourth licence of the National lottery.

Boris Johnson: Details of my official meetings with external organisations are published and can be found on Gov.uk.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Buildings

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 November 2021 to Question 65371, if he provide details on the appropriate measures required by the Defence Fire Safety Regulator and Defence Infrastructure Organisation in each of the 27 high rise buildings with combustible components in the external walls.

Jeremy Quin: The high rise buildings across the Defence estate with external wall systems that do not conform to Government guidance have all been subjected to annually reviewed and assured Fire Risk Assessments and remain legally compliant for continued occupation. The appropriate mitigations may include regular testing of the automatic fire detection and alarm system, emergency lighting, regular inspection by barrack inspection teams and Fire Risk specialists, a simultaneous evacuation strategy and regular fire drills. Second party audits to monitor fire system maintenance are also being carried out. Personnel who occupy the buildings have been kept informed through briefings, instructions and/or the posting of the Fire Risk Assessments in the affected blocks.

Joint Requirements Oversight Committee

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 November 2021 to Question 64537, if he will list the (a) names of the people who sit on the Joint Requirements Oversight Committee and (b) dates of their meetings since 30 March 2021.

Jeremy Quin: The Joint Requirement Oversight Committee (JROC) is chaired by the Vice Chief of Defence Staff with representatives from across Head Office and each of the Military Commands at Director General level or military equivalent rank. Since the 30 March 2021, the board has met twice on 27 September and 2 November and plans to meet twice again on 25 November and 9 December this calendar year.

Unmanned Air Vehicles: Costs

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much WatchKeeper has cost the public purse to date; and whether it has declared Full Operating Capability.

Jeremy Quin: The total cost of Watchkeeper as at 31 October 2021 is £1.173 billion. Watchkeeper achieved Full Operating Capability in November 2018.

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the impact of universal credit deductions on household budgets.

David Rutley: No such assessment has been made. There is a limit placed on the overall amount that can be deducted from Universal Credit. Formerly 40% of the Universal Credit Standard Allowance, this was reduced from 30% to 25% in April 2021. Processes are in place to ensure deductions are manageable and customers can contact DWP Debt Management if they are experiencing financial hardship, in order to discuss a reduction in their rate of repayment or a temporary suspension, depending on their financial circumstances.

State Retirement Pensions

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will ensure that the option of receiving the State Pension weekly or biweekly is made available on the claim form.

Guy Opperman: There are no current plans to include options for receiving State Pension weekly/bi-weekly on the State Pension claim form. The customer can, however, request a change to another payment frequency if they wish, at any point after the initial claim and award payment is made. A customer may telephone or write to request this change. State Pension systems do have the functionality to provide an alternative payment frequency, at any point after the initial claim and award is made. The easiest way to do this is for the customer to contact Pension Service by telephone and an operational agent can facilitate the change.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 9 July 2020 on Health Transformation Programme update (HCWS353), how many people have been selected to take part in the north London Health Transformation Programme since that programme was introduced in April 2021.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 9 July 2020 on Health Transformation Programme update (HCWS353), what criteria is used for selecting someone to take part in the Health Transformation Programme in addition to an eligible postcode.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 9 July 2020 on Health Transformation Programme update (HCWS353), who is currently undertaking benefit eligibility assessments for disabled and seriously people conducted as part of the Health Transformation Programme; whether there is a longer-term contract for that  work; and if she will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: The DWP Health Transformation Programme has begun work to procure assessment services for the period 2023-28, having extended the current contracts to ensure continuity of service in response to the impact of Covid-19. The Invitation to Tender is set to be issued later this month. New contracts will bring together current Health and Disability Assessment Services and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments under single geographic contracts. These will form a building block for our new Health Assessment Service.  Separately, the Programme is integrating the services that deliver PIP and Work Capability Assessments into the new Health Assessment Service. This is being developed in a small, safe and controlled environment known as the Health Transformation Area (HTA), previously the Departmental Transformation Area. Currently, the Healthcare Professionals working in the HTA are employed by Advanced Personnel Management Group (UK) Limited, under a contract with DWP. These resources are managed by DWP. As part of our future strategy for the HTA, we intend to recruit Healthcare Professionals and for them to be employed by DWP. Starting on a small scale, we are iterating our processes based on experience and building an evidence base to support roll out decisions on a greater scale, and ultimately nationally. The service has begun operating in a small defined part of the country and all claimants of PIP, Employment Support Allowance (ESA)/Universal Credit living within the small number of selected postcodes are included in the HTA; no additional selection criteria apply. As part of this new service, we are developing and refining our data collection methods, so that we can accurately capture, analyse, and report the most useful metrics. In the North London (Tresco House) Transformation Area we have 71 ESA claimants, 810 Universal Credit claimants and 1422 PIP claimants currently being supported by our services.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Rabies: Blood Tests

Dr Neil Hudson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans the Government has to re-introduce the rabies titre test for entry of small animals to the UK.

Jo Churchill: The Government launched a consultation on 21 August on our proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets (cats, dogs and ferrets) into Great Britain, including our proposal to ban the commercial and non-commercial movement of puppies under the age of six months into Great Britain. We will take into account the views of the public and will continue to work closely with stakeholders to ensure that our final measures are well considered and are guided by the latest evidence. Defra has no immediate plans to change the import health requirements in relation to rabies for pets entering Great Britain. Recent quantitative risk assessments have concluded that the risk of a pet animal with rabies entering the UK under the pet travel rules is very low. Defra continues to monitor the disease situation carefully and our future policy will be guided by risk assessment.

Food: Consumption

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the ability of UK suppliers to meet demand for domestic food consumption.

Victoria Prentis: Our food security depends on supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable export routes. Overall we produce 60% of all the food we need. That figure increases to 74% as a percentage of the food which UK conditions allow us to grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year. These figures have changed little over the last 20 years. UK consumers have almost constant access through international trade to food products that we cannot produce here, or can only produce for some of the year; this also supplements our excellent domestic production. Importantly, this also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply. The Government has committed in the Agriculture Act 2020 to publishing a triennial report on subject of food security which will provide detailed analysis of relevant statistical data. The food security report will be a significant body of work that will cover both global and domestic food security, including global food availability, supply sources for food, supply chain resilience, food safety, and household food security. The first report will be published prior to the House rising for Christmas recess in 2021.

Waste Disposal: Crime

Aaron Bell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress his Department has made on tackling waste crime.

Jo Churchill: Despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020/21 the Environment Agency stopped illegal activity at 722 sites, contributing to a 14% reduction in known illegal sites from the previous year. In the same period, they prosecuted 12 individuals and companies – leading to over £417,000 of fines. They also prevented the export of more than 11,000 tonnes of illegal waste. Going forward, the government is preparing significant reforms to continue to increase the pressure on illegal waste operators. Our planned electronic waste tracking reforms will make it harder than ever to mis-identify waste or dispose of it inappropriately. Planned changes to the Carriers, Brokers and Dealers licensing regime will modernise licensing and make it harder still for rogue operators to escape detection. This will come in addition to measures in the Environment Act 2021 which gives agencies stronger powers of entry and access to evidence in prosecuting waste crime.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: UN Climate Conference 2021

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he travelled by (a) rail, (b) road or (c) air to COP26 in Glasgow.

Victoria Prentis: All delegates have been encouraged to consider low-carbon travel options to attend COP26. The Secretary of State travelled by train. The UK will be offsetting carbon emissions associated with running the event, including the emissions associated with travel. As the IPCC report underlines, COP26 is vital this November to allow world leaders to come together and set out decisive commitments to tackle climate change.

Home Office

Members: Security

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to improve security at MP's surgeries.

Damian Hinds: The killing of Sir David Amess at his Essex surgery was a shocking, abhorrent crime and a senseless attack on our democracy. The Government takes extremely seriously the safety and security of Members of Parliament. The Home Office works closely with Parliament and the Police on the safety and security of Members, who are able to access a range of robust measures under Operation Bridger. As the Home Secretary made clear in Parliament on 20 October, significant work has already been taken forward in response to the tragic incident, and that continues at pace. It would not be appropriate to comment in detail on this work, including in relation to surgeries, or to comment in detail on the security measures that are available to Members of Parliament. Doing so risks compromising the security of Members and their staff. If Members receive a threat that they believe to be real and immediate, they should call 999 immediately or call x3333 while on the Parliamentary estate; or if they wish to report non-urgent crimes or criminal damage they should call 101. If Members have any concerns about their safety and security they should contact the Members Security Support Service in Parliament for advice and assistance.

Visas: Software

Carol Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will consider developing a mobile phone app for visa holders to use as an alternative to the Employer Checking Service to demonstrate their right to (a) work and (b) reside.

Kevin Foster: The existing online Right to Work, Right to Rent and “View and Prove your Immigration Status” services can already be quickly, simply and safely used on a mobile phone web browser. They enable visa holders to generate “share codes” that can be passed on to employers, landlords and other parties, enabling them to check the visa holder’s rights and conditions of stay in the UK. Likewise, third parties given a share code can just as easily use a mobile phone web browser to view the information shared by the visa holder in this way.Our digital services are constantly being improved based on user feedback and research. We will consider whether a cost-effective mobile phone app could be introduced and would bring benefits to visa holders and checkers over and above the current status checking service.

Citizenship: Children

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to introduce a fee waiver scheme for children born in the UK who are applying to register their British citizenship; and if she will make a statement.

Kevin Foster: The Home Office acknowledged the Court of Appeal judgment in PRCBC & O v Secretary of State for the Home Department on 18 February and committed to reviewing the child citizenship registration fee in line with its duties under Section 55.A Supreme Court hearing on Child Registration fees also took place on 23rd and 24th June.We await the final judgment and the ongoing section 55 review before publishing results.

Cabinet Office

Coronavirus: Monuments

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent progress has been made on determining the future of the National Covid Memorial Wall located on land on the Albert Embankment; what discussions the Government has had with St Thomas’ Hospital to clarify ownership of that land; and what steps the Government has taken to establish future responsibility for the memorial’s upkeep.

Michael Ellis: The Government recognises the need to commemorate those who have died during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to mark and remember this period as one of immense struggle.The Prime Minister announced on 12 May the establishment of a UK Commission on Covid Commemoration. The Government will set out the Commission membership and terms of reference in due course.We are aware of the call for the Memorial Wall to become a permanent national memorial. The UK Commission on Covid Commemoration, once established, will consider the appropriate way to remember those who have lost their lives during the pandemic.Discussions on the future of the Memorial Wall are being led by Lambeth London Borough Council.

Department for Education

Special Educational Needs: Home Education

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children with an Education Health and Care plan are home educated.

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children with high functioning autism are being home educated.

Will Quince: The number of home educated children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) was 3,660 in 2021 and 2,983 in 2020, according to the department’s data on children with EHCPs. The department does not otherwise collect data on children who are home educated, including the number of children with high functioning autism.The government remains committed to a form of registration system for children not in school. Further details on this will be in the government’s response to the Children Not in School consultation, which will be published in the coming months.

Antisemitism: Higher Education

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what policies the Government has in place to tackle antisemitism (a) on university campuses and (b) in the broader education system; and what steps the Government is taking with academic institutions to improve the safety of British Jewish students.

Michelle Donelan: There is no place in our society, including within our education system, for antisemitism. The government has acted over a number of years to send a clear message that antisemitism will not be tolerated in our schools, colleges, and higher education (HE) institutions.The government's action on antisemitism in HE has included working closely with Universities UK (UUK), and the Office for Students (OfS) as sector regulator. UUK recently published a briefing on tackling antisemitism in HE, which includes recommending adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Adopting the widely recognised definition sends a strong signal that HE providers take these issues seriously and is an important tool in tackling antisemitism.The former Secretary of State for Education wrote to the sector in October 2020, calling upon leaders to adopt the IHRA definition. He repeated this message in May 2021, reinforcing the government's expectation that providers adopt the IHRA definition, stressing the even greater importance of doing so in light of an increased number of antisemitic incidents recorded as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.In addition, in his February 2021 strategic guidance letter, the former Secretary of State for Education asked the OfS to undertake a scoping exercise, to identify providers which are reluctant to adopt the definition. In response to this, on 10 November 2021 the OfS published a list of providers who have adopted the definition. I am pleased to report good progress in the last year: an increase from around 30 to over 200 providers having adopted the IHRA definition. This includes the vast majority of universities. The list is available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/student-wellbeing-and-protection/prevent-and-address-harassment-and-sexual-misconduct/tackling-antisemitism/.The decision on adoption of the definition rests with individual providers, but the government will continue to urge them to adopt the definition and ensure that HE is a genuinely fulfilling and welcoming experience for everyone.The government is also committed to stamping out antisemitism in schools. On 28 May, the former Secretary of State for Education wrote to all schools to reiterate that pupils and staff must be kept safe, and there is absolutely no place for hate and prejudice. This intervention was a clear message that this government will not tolerate antisemitism in our schools and will act where necessary to tackle it. The government has also continued to take action to support schools in this area, including providing over £3.5 million of funding to anti-bullying organisations like the Anne Frank Trust, between 2016 and 2021. We are currently running a procurement exercise to fund activity in 2021-22, to make sure that schools have the right support in place to prevent bullying. Any form of antisemitism is abhorrent, and I will continue to work tirelessly to ensure it is eradicated from our world-leading education system.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Islamic Centre of England

Dr Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is undertaking an assessment of the validity of the charitable aims and objectives of the Islamic Centre of England.

Nigel Huddleston: The Charity Commission is the independent registrar and regulator for charities in England and Wales. Any evidence that a registered charity is not pursuing its charitable purpose should be referred to the Charity Commission.In June 2020, the Charity Commission exercised its power under section 75A of the Charities Act 2011 to issue an Official Warning to the Islamic Centre of England as it found the trustees had failed to discharge their legal duties towards the charity, which resulted in misconduct and/or mismanagement. The Charity Commission has an open and ongoing regulatory case into the charity to follow up on compliance with the requirements of the Official Warning.

National Lottery: Licensing

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that political donations made to the Conservative Party by managing parties of CVC Capital, the owner of Sisal S.p.A Group do not influence the Government's approach to the Fourth National Lottery Licence.

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish details of all official correspondence received by her Department from representatives of (a) CVC Capital Partners and (b) Sisal Group since 1 July 2019.

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what processes are in place to ensure that members of the Board of Commissioners have no conflict of interest pertaining to the Fourth National Lottery Licence process.

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the involvement of CVC Capital in the bid by Sisal S.p.A for the National Lottery Licence, whether his Department has plans to introduce measures to ensure that (a) CVC Capital upholds obligations to Debenhams pension fund and (b) National Lottery funds will not be used to pay dividends to CVC Capital partners.

Chris Philp: The competition for the next licence to run the National Lottery is run by the Gambling Commission. Government is not involved in selecting the winning bid. The Commission has received four final applications to run the licence. This is the highest number of applications received since the first licence was awarded in 1994 and reflects the strength of the competition, and the market’s recognition of the opportunity which exists.While the competition remains on-going it is not appropriate to comment on whether an individual, or organisation, has participated in any stage of it. We have no plans to publish any correspondence received by the Department from either CVC Capital Group or Sisal partners.As part of the Department’s public appointments process, applicants to public bodies roles, including to the Gambling Commission’s board, must declare in their application any private interests which would result in actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest. On taking up an appointment to the Gambling Commission, Commissioners are required to adhere to principles in Nolan Principles and the Gambling Commission’s own Code of Conduct for Commissioners. Further to this:All Commissioners are required to declare interests at least annually, and ensure in year changes are notified as necessary;Their interests are published on the Gambling Commission’s website;Declarations of interest are sought at the beginning of every board and committee meeting; andWhen an interest is declared, it is reviewed by the Head of Governance and the Chair of the Commission to identify if any action is required as a result (up to and including asking my Department to terminate the appointment/asking them to terminate their interest).The purpose of the National Lottery, as set out in legislation, is to raise monies for the four good cause pillars. The National Lottery must be run by a single purpose vehicle, with controls in place to ensure that proceeds cannot be diverted to another area of the operator’s business. The mechanism by which proceeds are divided between good cause returns and profits will be set out in the licence while decisions about the use of their profits will be a matter for the operator.Defined benefit pension schemes are an important source of retirement income for many people in the UK, and the Government is committed to ensuring that they are protected. Whilst it is not appropriate for Ministers to comment on the arrangements of particular pension schemes, the Pensions Regulator monitors private Defined Benefit pension schemes and has the powers to act where they believe a breach of the law has taken place. The Government is committed to strengthening the powers at the disposal of the Regulator and new sanctions, within the Pension Schemes Act 2021, will strengthen the punishment for irresponsible management of pension schemes.

Women and Equalities

Government Equalities Office: Core Issues Trust

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, when the decision was made to organise a Government Equalities Office meeting with Core Issues Trust, who made that decision; and who attended that meeting.

Mike Freer: The Equality Hub is engaging with a wide range of stakeholders who hold different views in relation to conversion therapy. The Core Issues Trust wrote to the Equality Hub asking a Minister to meet to discuss our efforts to ban conversion therapy, an invitation which was declined. Instead, Equality Hub officials met briefly with the group as part of their routine stakeholder engagement around the proposed ban.The Government launched its consultation into how – not whether – to ban conversion therapy on Friday 29 October. This will close on Friday 10 December. I would encourage everyone with an interest in this area to submit a response.

LGBT People: Wales

Ruth Jones: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what discussions she has had with the Welsh Government on its LGBTQ+ Action Plan for Wales.

Mike Freer: The Equality Hub is in regular contact with Welsh Government officials and has held discussions covering the LGBTQ+ action plan for Wales as well as wider LGBT policy, including most recently the proposals to ban conversion therapy in England and Wales.